ISNPS News

• Dr. Cassiano de Oliveira (PI), Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering and Dr. Mohamed El-Genk (Co-PI), Regents Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies (ISNPS), have been awarded a 2-year, $198,952 grant through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for undergraduate (UG) scholarships in Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Incoming sophomore and juniors in Nuclear Engineering with a GPA of 3.2 or higher, overall and in major, are eligible to apply for $3000 annual scholarships. To remain eligible, recipients of the NRC UG scholarships need to maintain their GPA and graduate with a B.S in Nuclear Engineering within 3 years after completing the freshman requirement and being admitted to the Nuclear Engineering program (http://www-chne.unm.edu/nuclearfaculty.html)
  
  For inquiry and requirements, contact Jocelyn White at the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department. (505) 277-5606 (JoWhite@unm.edu)

This grant continues the very successful New Mexico One (NMONE) scholarship program, which during the last 7 years has been funded at a total of $750,000.  This grant was awarded to Dr. El-Genk by the U.S. DOE. Recipients of the NMONE undergraduate scholarships have graduated with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering with GPA > 3.4 and within 3 years from being admitted to the department.  NMONE also provided graduate fellowships. More details on NMONE program can be found at: http://www.unm.edu/~ISNPS/nmone.html

• Dr. Mohamed El-Genk (PI) and Dr. Cassiano de Oliveira (Co-PI) have been awarded a $375,000 grant through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for graduate fellowships in Nuclear Engineering. This 3-year grant will help increase the number of full-time graduate students pursuing advanced studies toward M.S. and PhD. in Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. 
  
  For inquiry and requirements, please contact Dr. El-Genk (mgenk@unm.edu).

• Dr. Mohamed El-Genk (PI) have been awarded a 3-year, $442,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Engineering University Program (NEUP) to conduct cutting-edge research on the safety of Generation-IV, high temperature nuclear reactor (HTRs).  HTR plants are being developed for the production of electricity at a thermal efficiency close to 50% and the co-generation of hydrogen by thermo-chemical processes. AREVA NP, Inc. (http://www.areva-np.com) is the industry collaborator on this research project.

Members of the research team at UNM-ISNPS have been conducting related research on the design and analyses of HTR and HTR power plants with direct and indirect Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) for energy conversion, and performing design and optimization of CBC turbo-machine. Additional research on similar, but much smaller reactor power systems is being carried out at UNM-ISNPS to support future deep space exploration missions and human outposts on the Moon and Mars.  More on the current research and members of the research team at UNM-ISNPS can be found at: http://www.unm.edu/~ISNPS/research/research.html

Regents' Professor, M. S. El-Genk selected as area editor for the International Journal of Process Systems Engineering

June 2 2008–Regents' Professor Mohamed S. El-Genk has been selected area editor of the Energy Systems Processes area of the newly formed International Journal of Process System Engineering.

Regents' Professor of Chemical, Nuclear, & Mechanical Engineering, Mohamed S. El-Genk, delivers keynote address at the 5th European Thermal-Science Conference

May 22 2008–Regents' Professor of Chemical, Nuclear, & Mechanical Engineering and Director of the UNM Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies (ISNPS), gave a keynote address to the attendees of the 5Th European Thermal-Science Conference, held May 18 -22, 2008 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The number of the conference attendances was more than 300 from 35 countries. The keynote address covered the most recent results of the research being conducted at UNM-ISNPS on enhanced boiling of dielectric liquids on copper nanodendrites, porous graphite and macro-structured copper surfaces. This research, which has direct application to immersion cooling of high power computer chips dissipating more than 1000 kW/m2, is based on the Ph.D. Dissertation research of Jack L. Parker and Amir F. Ali, both are Research Assistants with UNM-ISNPS. The conference final program can be viewed at: www.eurotherm2008.tue.nl

In addition, El-Genk chaired a technical session and gave two additional presentations of the results of recent research conducted at UNMISNPS on boiling heat transfer on microstructured surfaces and on liquid flow in microtubes and micro-channels.

The latter has direct applications to the design and optimization of Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS), micro-sensors, micro-satellites, and biomedical engineering, and is based on the Ph.D. Dissertation research of In-Hwan Yang, also an RA with UNM-ISNPS.

El-Genk is a member of the International Assembly of the international heat transfer conference (IHTC) and of the U.S. Scientific Committee in charge of organizing the 2010 IHTC in Washington DC.

Two Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Students Successfully Defend their Disertations

May 8 2008– Jack L. Parker: Jack L. Parker successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation entitled “Boiling of Dielectric Liquids on Porous Graphite and Extended Copper Surfaces,” and will graduate in a couple of weeks with a Ph.D. from the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering at University of New Mexico (UNM).  Jack is a Research Assistant with the Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies (ISNPS) which partially funded his Ph.D. research with the support of a DOE graduate fellowship.  Jack’s Ph.D. Faculty advisor is Dr. Mohamed S. El-Genk, Regents’ Professor of Chemical, Nuclear and Mechanical Engineering and Director of UNM-ISNPS.  Other members of Jack’s Dissertation Committee are Dr. Timothy L. Ward, Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Dr. Dimiter Petsev, Associate Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, and Dr. Arsalan Razani, Professor of Mechanical Engineering.  Several Refereed Journals articles and conference Proceedings full papers, based on the results of Jack’s Dissertation research, have been published.  For listing visit:
http://www.unm.edu/~ISNPS/research/research.html

Devin W. Gray:  Devin W. Gray successfully defended his Masters Thesis entitled “An Investigation of Gas Bubble Injection from Single Nozzles into Water and Liquid Metal Pools,” and will graduate in a couple of weeks with an M.S. from the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering at University of New Mexico (UNM).  Devin is a member of the technical staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory and his thesis Faculty advisor is Dr. Mohamed S. El-Genk, Regents’ Professor of Chemical, Nuclear and Mechanical Engineering and Director of UNM-ISNPS.  Other members of Devin’s Thesis Committee are Dr. Timothy L. Ward, Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Dr. Gary W. Cooper, Associate Professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering.

New Fellow of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS)

April 9, 2008– Mohamed S. El-Genk, Regents’ Professor of Chemical, Nuclear, and Mechanical Engineering and the founding Director of the Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies at the University of New Mexico (http://www.unm.edu/~isnps/ ) has been elected Fellow of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) http://www.iaass.org/.

 IAASS is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering international cooperation and scientific advancement in the field of space systems safety and it is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). 

Professor El-Genk is also a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). 

El-Genk is serving on the IASS Academic Committee to develop international education and training programs in collaboration with other universities in US and abroad in the areas of space power and propulsion technologies and the advancement of Space Safety. 

He is a member of the program committee of the IAASS Conference “Building a Safer Space Together” to be held in Rome, Italy, 21 – 23 October 2008 http://www.congrex.nl/07a02/.

Thesis Defense Announced for ISNPS Master's Candidate

March 27, 2007–Master's degree candidate Steven Allen Hatton will give his defense of "Parametric Design Studies of the Sectored Compact Reactor (SCoRe-S) for Space Power," before an examination committee on April 10, 2007. The committee is chaired by Regents' Professor Mohamed S. El-Genk. Other committee members include Dr. Robert Busch, Assistant Professor Taro Ueki, and Assistant Research Professor Jean-Michel Tournier.

July 20, 2006–Regents' Professor and ISNPS Director, Mohamed S. El-Genk's essay "Nuclear Power Has Some Great Advantages," appeared as a guest editorial in The Albuquerque Journal's Business Outlook section.

In writing the essay, Professor Mohamed El-Genk addressed plans in the U.S. to build 27 new commercial reactors over the next several years. It's a move he believes, "acknowledges the reality that nuclear power, together with the complementary potential of renewable energy options like solar and wind, is central to the alleviating of global warming, and ensuring national energy security and world peace."

His editorial sparked both compliments and rebuttals, including a letter published in The Journal by Sandra Edwards on July 27th, as well as a letter received from PNM's Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey E. Sterba.

ISNPS Featured in UNM Engineering Magazine

May 31, 2006–ISNPS received the spotlight in the Spring '06 issue of UNM Engineering, with a centerfold story on the Institute's vital dual mission to advance the futures of space nuclear power research, and the students who will carry on that mission in the decades to come.

"If we want to explore Mars or the ice resources on the moons of Jupiter, such as Europa and Ganymede, we need serious power for that," says ISNPS Director and Regents' Professor Mohamed El-Genk in his interview for the magazine. "We design safe and reliable nuclear power systems for destinations where solar power is nonexistant."

You'll find the full text of the article in .pdf format at www.soe.unm.edu.

Jeffrey C. King Graduates with Distinction,
Earns Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering

May 13, 2006–Having successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, "Effects of Spectral Shift Absorbers on the Design and Safety of Fast Spectrum Space Reactors," Jeffrey C. King became ISNPS's 26th Ph.d. He graduated with distinction. He is also the 2005 winner of the Manuel Lujan Jr. Student Paper Award, and past chair of the ISNPS Space Design Competition.

"My time with the Institute has allowed me to develop myself as a person," said King, "and to explore my interests in several unique and exciting fields of research, including space reactors, nuclear propulsion, and advanced energy conversion." He plans to pursue a career in teaching, with hopes of remaining in the Southwest.

King expressed gratitude to ISNPS and UNM's School of Engineering for the opportunity to pursue specialized study and research. "These opportunities would not have been possible elsewhere," he said.

In total, ISNPS has conferred 49 masters and doctoral degrees. Read the abstract from King's dissertation below:

Abstract

Effects of Spectral Shift Absorbers on the Design
and Safety of Fast Spectrum Space Reactors

Spectral Shift Absorbers (SSAs) are incorporated into space reactors to maintain them sufficiently subcritical when submerged in seawater or wet sand and subsequently flooded, following a launch abort accident.  The effect of four SSAs (samarium-149, europium-151, gadolinium-155, and gadolinium-157) on the submersion criticality, operation, and temperature reactivity feedback of the thermal spectrum reactors developed in the Systems for Nuclear Auxilary Power (SNAP) program is extensively documented.  Recent work on SSAs in fast spectrum space reactors, preferred for compactness and higher powers, has focused on rhenium as the primary SSA.  In addition to identifying additional SSAs, the present work investigates the effects of SSAs on the overall size and mass, temperature reactivity feedback, and operational lifetime of fast spectrum space reactors.

Screening the modern nuclear database, which is considerably more extensive than during the SNAP program, identified 28 potential SSAs, which are examined as additives to a representative homogenous fast spectrum reactor core.  Nine promising SSAs (boron-10, cadmium, cadmium-113, samarium-149, europium-151, gadolinium, gadolinium-155, gadolinium-157 and iridium) are selected and their potential as alternatives to rhenium in the design of the Submersion-Subcritical Safe Space (S^4) reactor is investigated.

The fast spectrum S^4 reactor has a sectored Mo-14%Re solid-core, loaded with UN fuel, cooled by He-30%Xe, and designed to avoid single point failures at a steady thermal power of 550 kWth.  With no SSA additions, the S^4 reactor has a fuel enrichment of 58.5%, a reflector outer diameter of 65.0 cm, and a combined reactor and shadow shield mass of 1502.8 kg.  The addition of SSAs to the reactor core increases the fuel enrichment and decreases the size and mass of the reactor and the radiation shadow shield.  When 0.25 mm thick rhenium sleeves are placed around the fuel stacks and the core block is formed from Mo-44.5%Re, the fuel enrichment increases to 75.5%, but the reflector outer diameter decreases to 46.5 cm, reducing the total reactor and shadow shield mass to 1012.5 kg.  SSA additions of boron-10, europium-151, gadolinium-155 and iridium result in the smallest and lightest S^4 reactors.

With a 0.10 mm thick boron-10 carbide core coating and iridium sleeves around the fuel stacks, the outer diameter of the S^4 reflector is 43.5 cm and the combined reactor and shadow shield mass is 935.1 kg.  When 12.5 atom% gadolinium-155 is added to the fuel, with a 2.0 mm diameter gadolinium-155 sesquioxide intersititial pins, and a 0.1 mm thick gadolinium-155 sesquioxide coating, the reflector outer diameter decreaes slightly to 43.0 cm, resulting in a smaller total reactor and shield mass of 901.7 kg.  With 8.0 atom% europium-151 added to the fuel, along with europium-151 sesquioxide pins and core coating, the reflector’s outer diameter and total reactor and shield mass are further reduced to 41.5 cm and 869.2 kg.

The effects of SSA additions on the operational lifetime and the temperature and burnup reactivity coefficients of the S^4 reactor are studied.  An increase in fuel enrichment with SSAs markedly increases the operational lifetime by decreasing the burnup reactivity coefficient with only a slight decrease in the temperature reactivity feedback coefficient.  With no SSAs, the UN fuel enrichment is lowest (58.5 wt%), the temperature and burnup reactivity coefficients are the highest (-0.2709 ¢/K and -1.3470 $/atom%), and the estimated operating lifetime is the shortest (7.6 years). The temperature and burnup reactivity coefficients decrease to -0.2649 ¢/K and -1.0230 $/atom%, and the operating lifetime increases to 8.3 years when rhenium additives are used.  With europium-151 and gadolinium-155 additions, fuel enrichment (91.5 and 94 wt%) and operating lifetime (9.9 and 9.8 years) are the highest and both the temperature and burnup reactivity coefficients (-0.2382 and -0.2447 ¢/K; -0.9073 and 0.8502 $/atom%) are the lowest.

Last updated 4/6/07. ©2006-2007 ISNPS-UNM.